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Rap Monster
Kim Nam-joon (Hangul: 김남준; born September 12, 1994), better known as Rap Monster, is a South Korean rapper, songwriter, and record producer. He is the leader and main rapper of the South Korean boy group BTS, managed under Big Hit Entertainment. In 2015, he released his first solo mixtape, RM. To date, he has recorded collabs with artists such as Wale, Warren G, Gaeko, Krizz Kaliko, MFBTY, and Primary. Rap Monster is notable for his large input in songwriting and production in BTS's discography. He has over 60 songs accredited to his name by the Korea Music Copyright Association. __TOC__ Biography Rap Monster was born on September 12, 1994, in Ilsan, South Korea and has one younger sister. Before his debut with BTS, he was an underground rapper under the stage name "Runch Randa". He released a number of tracks and once collaborated with fellow underground rapper Zico. He is part of the underground Korean hip hop crew called Daenamhyup, consisting of the members Marvel J, l11ven, Supreme Boi, Iron, Kyum2, Kidoh, Samsoon, Illipse and DJ Snatch. The group had been active from 2009 until 2013, although Rap Monster has not participated in recent years to concentrate on BTS. The activities seem to have stopped with some members participating in a new crew. Rap Monster has many notable academic achievements. He achieved an 850 on the TOEIC when he was in junior high. He was part of the top 1.3% of the nation in the preparatory university entrance exams for language, math, foreign language and social studies, and has an IQ of 148. Alongside his native language Korean, he is also fluent in English and Japanese. He watched the popular American sitcom Friends multiple times to help him learn English. He has described himself as an atheist. Career BTS :Main article: BTS Rap Monster was recruited as BTS's first member back in 2010 during a Big Hit talent audition. Rap Monster trained for years with two other underground rappers, Jung Ho Seok (J-Hope) and Min Yoon Gi (Suga). On June 13, 2013, Rap Monster made his debut as a member of BTS on Mnet's M! Countdown with the track "No More Dream" from their debut single album 2 Cool 4 Skool. He has produced and written lyrics for a variety of tracks on all of BTS's albums. Solo work Rap Monster has collaborated with many respected Korean and American artists. On March 4, 2015, he released a single with Warren G entitled, "P.D.D (Please Don't Die)" alongside its music video, which featured behind-the-scene footage of their collaboration in LA. On December 31, 2014, BTS performed an intro performance on MBC Gayo Daejejeon, which featured Krizz Kaliko's song "Spaz". Krizz Kaliko and Rap Monster later produced the song: "Rush", which was released on March 20 on BTS's SoundCloud, along with Rap Monster's solo mixtape. Along with EE and Dino J, Rap Monster collaborated with hip hop project group MFBTY for the song, "Bucku Bucku (부끄부끄)". He was featured in "Bucku Bucku"'s music video, and also had a cameo in MFBTY's other music video for their song, "Bang Diggy Bang Bang (방뛰기방방)." On March 10, 2015, a picture of Rap Monster was released on his blog, along with the words: "RM by Rap Monster. You do You, I do I". This picture helped announce that Rap Monster would be releasing his first solo mixtape: RM on March 20. His first track, "Awakening (각성)" was released with a music video on March 12. Two more tracks from his mixtape, "Do You" and "Joke (농담)" also had music videos released on YouTube. The mixtape was ranked 48th on Spin's "50 Best Hip Hop Albums of 2015". On April 9, 2015, Primary released his mini-album, 2-1, on which Rap Monster, along with Kwon Jin Ah, was featured in the song, "U". For his new album, Andre, Yankie released an animated music video for his track, "ProMeTheUs",on June 5. The song features Rap Monster as well as Dok2, Juvie Train, Double K, Topbob and Don Mills. Rap Monster collaborated with Marvel for Fantastic Four film's soundtrack. The digital single, "Fantastic" featuring Mandy Ventrice, was released on August 4, through Melon, Genie, Naver Music and other music sites. On September 20, Rap Monster participated in the 2015 All Force One (A.F.O) Hot & Cool Concert at AX-Korea, along with other hip hop artists: Palo Alto, Verbal Jint, Supreme Boi, Sik-k, and Incredivle. On August 30, 2016, Homme's new single "Dilemma" was released, which Rap Monster co-produced alongside Bang Shi Hyuk. This was his second official production after his participation on BTS "Epilogue: Young Forever" and the unofficial SoundCloud release of "I Know". This was also his second time to co-write and co-compose outside of BTS after GLAM's "Party (XXO)" in 2012 and "I Like That" in 2013. Other work On March 23, tvN released the preview for an upcoming variety talk show, Hot Brain: Problematic Men, which features Rap Monster as a panel member. During the show, Rap Monster and five other male celebrities discuss social topics with guests. Rap Monster is a model for the coffee brand K'hawah, along with Iron and Jimin of AOA. Image In an interview for Hiphopplaya webzine, Rap Monster received praise from Warren G, who stated: "If I comment from an artist and a producer point of view, Rap Monster is one of the best rappers I know. The way he delivers his rap is outstanding". On the 4things show, Tiger JK from MFBTY stated that Rap Monster is "the industry junior who changed his preconceptions about idols." In July 2016, 2 books called "HipHopHada" were released. They consist of the self-written life histories of 42 Korean hip hop artists, including Rap Monster American hip-hop magazine XXL has put together a list of the ten Korean rappers that they think their readers should check out which also included Rap Monster. Writer Peter A. Berry compares Rap Monster to “Pitbull or Flo Rida for those pop vibes,” and promises, “Rap Monster rarely fails to live up to his name.” He describes the young star as “one of the region’s most dexterous rappers, capable of switching flows effortlessly as he glides across an array of diverse instrumentals”. Discography :Main article: BTS discography Singles Mixtape Filmography Music videos Show appearance